Aug 8, 2008: Caithness to New Jersey?; More Ontario FAIRBAIRNs

Where does the time go? Mostly been working on Ontario FAIRBAIRN and related families, in no particular order: GRIEVE, WINDOVER, HUFF, COUGHLIN, HUDSON, RAYCRAFT, ASSELSTINE, FRENCH, FITCHETT, PAGE, VADER.
FAIRBAIRN descendants chart updated.

Sidetracked from FAIRBAIRNs to investigate Livy's theory that her x-greats grandmother Johanna/Jean KERR nee BAIN, d/o of a James and Ellen BAIN, just might be Johanna, d/o James BAIN and Helen ANDREW.
My initial worry was that if the age was right, she had emigrated to America as a 16/17 yr old - but with whom?
However, a 1924 letter from her younger sister Hannah in Wick, written to the American relations, clearly states that the sister didn't remember her as she had left so young, and I quickly found a dth cert of this Hannah, with the right address, that showed we had the right parents. As the letter also mentions Kate, implying she is Johanna and Hannah's sister, I presume Johanna emigrated with her elder sister.
This could well explain how I've not had much joy finding most of the girls in this family after about 1871.

Rootsweb WorldConnect db LornaHenderson updated (prior to this BAIN find). Also updated are the Rootsweb pages (after this BAIN find).

Jul 7, 2008: More HUDSONs

Another HUDSON day, with another breakthru, this time on the family of William HUDSON and Aylsie FAIRBAIRN (dtr of William FAIRBAIRN and Jean WANLESS). See the GenForum HUDSON board for the details.
I was somewhat puzzled how a family could be so definite about the exact birthdates of their two children, over two census records, when the dates are impossible for them to both belong to the mother shown (Mary), but that could explain how come George's birth isn't obvious in the Manitoba records under HUDSON, but there is a neatly matching one as George Eddy MISSIER, mother Dina, who is probably the Dana MESSIER shown as a daughter of Mary in the 1901 census.
Also finally found William & Elcy (FAIRBAIRN) HUDSON in 1851, at Wakefield, a few entries away from her brother George FAIRBAIRN, along with a couple more likely children, Robert and Jane.
William Jnr (marr. to Mary Louise previously MESSIER, nee GETDISS (?GEDDES) show up in the 1911 census in Masset, British Columbia, so followed the injunction to "go West young man".
Still looking for John and Caroline after 1901, although it looks like they may have moved to Brandon.

Jul 6, 2008: Hunting HUDSONs

Continued on with descendants of Walter LILLY and Mary FAIRBAIRN. The charts have been updated as it appears some descendants I had as hers, actually belonged to second marriages etc, not where I had them. (Wish the James Arnold WOOD obit I was working from had said survived by his step brothers). Looks like at least one marriage kept things in the family, with Henry WOOD marrying his brother's widow (Eda L SUTHERLAND) after Elizabet Jenet LILLY died.
Those showing on WC are hers, it was some who hadn't made it that far in my publishing of data.
It has been interesting looking back at some of my previous emails, searches etc. I came soooo close to solving this FAIRBAIRN mystery (what happened to David and James, brothers of my Walter) several years ago. I have rediscovered correspondence on file with a now known connection who couldn't recognise my FAIRBAIRNs, and I didn't know about her TRACY, LILLY, IREDALE connections back then, and if I hadn't been so broke when I first found the Cottonwood, Iowa Robert Safley FAIRBAIRN, I could have ordered his death cert then and kept digging.
Such is genealogical life, but it does show that time does solve most mysteries.

Took a break from David and Jane (HERD) FAIRBAIRNs' family and went back to the Quebec FAIRBAIRNs, checking/adding rather a lot of HUDSONs into the tree, spurred on by renewed contact from Ellen H wanting to know about Anthony MORRIS-ROWE, first husband of Mary Ann HUDSON, her husband's grandfather's sister. Couldn't add much to the sum of genealogical knowledge other than his marriage cert shows his parents as Michael and Mary MORRIS-ROWE.
In the process I got interested in who William Fairburn HUDSON was. He has to fit into the picture somewhere given he was in Parry Sound where the HUDSONs seem to congregate (until they moved to Michigan) but I've not placed his parents George HUDSON and Eliza(beth) RAYCROFT as yet.

Hopefully the DAWE Surname DNA project may have found, or been found by, it's first participant. Fingers crossed. I promised I'd get back to finding representatives of my Devon lines, so any DAWE males out there who want to help connect up Newfoundland DAWE families with their assumed Devon and Dorset roots, please check out the project, we'd love to hear from you.
And the FAIRBAIRN project may be about to add in another participant too, which should prove interesting, particularly as he traces back to an Eckford FAIRBAIRN, where I've only recently discovered mine were based for a while.

Mar 19, 2008: Who is Eliza?

Few twigs on the Quebec FAIRBAIRN descendant chart confirmed/added (mostly on the HUDSON/McGILLIVRAY portions).
Read the will of Janet FAIRBAIRN nee SCOTT (d. Fens, St Boswells, 27 Dec 1891). Sole surviving son John James, but with a mysterious mention of an Eliza in an undated codicil presented along with her will.
"My Dear John James of the little money I leave will you give to Eliza if she is stil in want her friends in Australia will be able to tell you about her.."

I don't yet know if this family is connected or not, but a John James was a witness to the will of James RUNCIMAN, probably in his capacity as apprentice to Robert Romanes, writer of Lauder, it probably being significant that John James' grandmother was a Jane ROMANIS. Given the St Boswells connection, I'm hunting for a link to "my" St Boswells FAIRBAIRN families, although it does rather look more like they're from Legerwood originally.